Mechanism for operating automatic valves of elevators.



MECHANISM N0 MODEL.

PATENTED DEC. 13, 1904. K. E. 0. JANSSON.

FOR OPERATING AUTOMATIC VALVES 0F ELEVATORS.

APPLIGATION FILED 110114, 1902.

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\uvaHToR PATENTED DEC. 13, 1904.

K. E. 0. JANSSON. MECHANISM FOR OPERATING AUTOMATIC VALVES 0P ELEVATORS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 14, 1902.

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UNITED STATES Patented December 13, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

KARL E. OSSIAN JANSSON, OF ORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSTGNOR TO PLUNGER ELEVATOR COMPANY, OF XVORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

MECHANISM FOR OPERATING AUTOMATIC VALVES OF ELEVATORS.

SPEGIFIGATIDN forming part of Letters Patent No. 777,635, dated December 13, 1904..

Application filed November 14,1902. Serial No. 131,414. NomodeL To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, KARL E. OSSIAN JANSSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Worcester, in the county of VVorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mechanisms for Operating AutomaticValves of Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to mechanism for operating the automatic or stop-motion valve of an elevator which stops the car at the ends of its travel.

The chief object of my invention is to pro' vide a simple and positive device for operat- S ing such valve at predetermined points of the travel of the car and in such a manner as to automatically stop the car gradually at the desired points.

My invention is applicable to any form of elevator or other moving body which it is desired to stop automatically at predetermined fixed points in its travel and may be arranged to operate any form of stop motion, such as hydraulic or steam valves, electric switches,

2 5 belt-shifters, &c. I have shown it applied. to a hydraulic elevator of the direct-plunger type. In elevators of this kind it is usual practice to have one or more automatic or safety st0p-valves automatically operated at the ends of the run to stop the car independcntly of any manipulation on the part of the operator. These valves control the supply and discharge pipes and are entirely independent of the main or operating valve. As

3 5 there are no slow-moving parts on an elevator of this type to which a valve could be con nected, it is more diflicult to operate the automatic valves gradually, so as to effect a gentle stopping of the car, than it is with some other 4 of the well-known types of elevators.

My invention relates to the construction and arrangement of parts for effecting the gradual but positive movement of these automatic stop devices as herein set forth.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is an elevation of a direct-plunger hydraulic elevator with my device attached. Fig. 2 is an elevation of a direct-plunger hydraulic elevator with the car at the lowest point of its travel. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the same 5 with car midway between its upper and lower limits, and Fig. 4 shows the same with the car at the highest point of its travel.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures. 10 represents in elevation a car of ordinary construction fastened to the top of a plunger 11.

12 is a well-known form of operating device connected by means of ropes to the main valve 30.

14 is a cylinder into which the plunger 11 runs.

20 is a counterweight connected to the car by means of a rope or cable 21, which passes 5 up to the top of the hatchway in which the car runs, thence over a .suitable pulley and down to the car 10, to which it is attached. On the side of the counterweight 20 I have shown a slidable rod 26 with a ratchet 23 en- 7 gaging in it. Directly under this rod 26 is a stop 24, the purpose of which will appear later.

30 is the main valve with its piston 33, supply-pipe 31, and discharge-pipe 32 for starting, stopping, or reversing the motion of the car.

40 is the automatic valve, and 41 the piston of the same. This piston is connected,through link L7, a bell'crank lever 46, and a connecting-rod 4-2, to a tilting arm 48, which is fulcrumed at 27 and carries a pulley 44; at one end and a weight 45 at the other end. A rope 25 is attached to the car-1O at 13, passes down underneath the pulley a l, and is attached to 5 the slidablc rod 26 at 22.

The main valve 30 is controlled by the operator in the car by means of the lever and tilting-wheel operating device(shown at 12) or any other of the operating devices in common 9 and fixed pin.

' shown in Fig. 3.

downward.

plunger 11, and the latter is pushed up, together with the car 10, by the pressure from the supply-pipe 31. When the piston 33 is moved up, passages are opened from the cylinder 14, through the automatic stop-valve 40 and the main valve 30, to the discharge-pipe 32. The water in cylinder 14 is thus allowed to escape, and the plunger and car will descend. When the piston 33 of the valve 30 is brought to its central position, both the supply and discharge pipes are closed and the plunger will remain stationary.

The automatic stop-valve 40 is so designed that when its piston 41 is in the central position the water can flow through it freely in either direction. When its piston 41 is up,

the water cannot flow through it from the supply to the cylinder, but can fiow through it in the opposite direction 6., from the cylinder to the discharge. \V hen the piston "41 is down, water can flow through it from,

the supply to the cylinder, but not the opposite way-t'rom the cylinder to the discharge.

A further description of this valve is not given, as it forms no part of this invention.

At 43 is shown a tilting arm fulcrumed at 27 by means of slotted opening in the arm At the lower end of this arm is a weight 45, which has a tendency to keep the arm in its vertical or central position, as The upper end of this arm 43 carries a pulley 44, under which runs a rope 25, one end of which is attached to a fixed point 13 on the car and the other end of which is attached to the slidable rod 26 at 22, as before described. At 13 a turnbuckle is provided for adjusting or taking up the slack of this rope. The rod 26 strikes on a fixed stop 24, so that the point 22 can never go below a certain fixed level. The ratchet 23 allows the rod 26 to move upward on the counterweight, but prevents it from moving This tilti-"g arm 43 is connected to the piston 41 of the automatic stop-valve 40 by means of the connecting-rod 42, the bell-crank lever 46, and the link 47 so that when the upper part of the arm 43 is moved to the right the piston 41 will be lowered, and vice versa.

The operation of this device is as follows: The tilting arm 43 and the piston 41 of the automatic stop-valve 40 are normally in their central position, as shown in Fig. 3. The car is here shown half-way up its run. The rope 25, which passes under pulley 44 and which runs from the car to the counterweight and travels with them, has no tendency to tilt the arm 43 when the car is in this position; but if the water is discharging from the cylinder and the car descends to its lowest position, as shown in Fig. 2, the arm 43 will be tilted to the right and the piston 41 of the automatic stop-valve will be pushed down. Thus the discharge will be shut oii and the car auto- I matically stopped. It the supply is connected to the cylinder, the car will ascend until the counterweight reaches its lowest point, as shown in Fig. 4, when the arm 43 will be tilted to the left, the piston 41 raised, and the supply cut on? and the car automatically stopped. The automatic stop thus efiected is very gradual and gentle, as the tendency of the rope to tilt the arm 43 is very slight at first, but gradually increases as the car reaches the ends of its travel, so the valve will be closed very slowly at first, but with increasing rapidity until the car comes to rest. It will be seen that this automatic stopping at the ends of the cars travel is entirely independent of the usual operation of the elevator and that it will have no efiect on the usual manipulation of the car by the operator. When the car is stopped at the top of its run by the automatic valve shutting off the supply, the discharge can be opened by the operator, as usual, to make the car descend. So, too, can he raise the car when it has been automatically stopped at the bottom of its run.

The slot in the arm 43 is provided so that if the car should have any tendency to run beyond its limits there will be no extra strain on the parts, but the arm 43 will simply be lifted up a little.

When the counterweight-rope 21' stretches, the slidable rod 26 will strike on the stop 24, so that the point 22 will never go below a predetermined fixed point, and so this apparatus will always stop the car at exactly the same level at the top as well as at the bottom of its run. The ratchet 23 prevents the rod 26 from moving downward on the counterweight 20, and so this arrangement automatically compensates for the stretch of the cable 21.

It is to be understood that the car and counterweight are run on suitable guides according to the usual practice. It is evident, then, that my device can be used on an elevator without a counterweight by putting in its place a frame running on guides. It will be understood, therefore, that wherever I use the word counterweight in the claims I do not intend to be limited to a counterweight in its narrow sense of an actual balanceweight. It is also evident that my device is operative without the self-adjusting device represented by the slidable rod 26 and the stop 24.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to cover by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with an elevator-car, a motor for the same, a stop-controlling device for said motor, a counterweight connected to the car, a rope attached to the car and to the counterweight, means for adjusting said rope, means for preventing undue strain upon said rope, means for preventing the point at which said rope is attached to the counterweight from going below a certain predetermined point and connections between said rope and the stop-controlling device arranged to operate said stop-controlling device as the car nears the ends of its travel.

2. The combination of an elevator-car and its counterweight, a motor, an automatic stopvalve, a rope attached to the car and counterweight, means for adjusting said rope, means for preventing the point at which said rope is attached to the counterweight from going below a predetermined point and connections between said rope and the automatic stop-valve arranged to positively operate said valve as the car nears the ends of its travel.

3. In an elevator apparatus, the combination of a car and counterweight, a rope connected from the car to the counterweight and adapted to run with the same,'means for adjusting said rope, a motor, an automatic stop device for said motor and connections between said rope and said automatic stop de vice whereby the latter is automatically operated by the motion of the car and counterweight.

4:. The combination with the car and counterweight of an elevator, of a motor for said elevator, an automatic stop-valve for said motor, a rope attached to the car and to a movable point on the counterweight and con nections between said rope and said automatic stop-valve whereby the latter is automatically operated by the motion of the car and counterweight.

5. The combination of an elevator-car, a motor for the same, an automatic stop-valve, a rope attached to the ear and running with it and connections between said rope and the automatic stop-valve adapted to operate said valve gradually at an increasing ratio as the car nears the ends of its travel.

6. The combination of an elevator-car and its counterweight a cable connecting said car and counterweight, an automatic stop device, a rope attached to the car and to a movable point on the counterweight, means for adjusting said rope, means for automatically compensating for the stretch of the counterweightcable, and connections between said rope and said automatic stop device arranged to operate said automatic stop device as the car nears the ends of its travel.

7. The combination with an elevator-car, a motor for moving the car, a controlling mechanism for the motor, a rope attached to the car and running with it, an automatic stop device, and means for deflecting the rope and thereby operating the automatic stop device to stop the car as the car approaches the ends of its travel.

8. The combination of an elevator-car, its con nterweight, an automatic stop-valve, a rope attached to the car and counterweight, means for adjusting said rope and connections between said rope and said valve adapted to opcrate said valve as the car nears the ends of its travel.

9. The combination of an elevator-car, its counterweight, an automatic stop-valve, a rope attached to the car and counterweight, means for preventing the point at which said rope is attached to the counterweight from going below a predetermined point and connections between said rope and automatic stop-valve arranged to positively operate said valve as the car nears the ends of its travel.

10. The combination of an elevator-car, its counterweight, an automatic stop-valve, a rope attached to the car and counterweight, a tilt ing arm'having a slot and arranged to be moved by said rope as the car approaches the ends of its travel, and connections between said arm and the automatic stop-valve as and for the purpose setforth.

11. The combination of an elevator-car, its counterweight, a motor for the same, an automatic stop-valve, a rope attached to the car and counterweight, means for preventing the point at which the said rope is attached to the counterweight from going below a predetermined point, and connections between said rope and automatic stop-valve arranged to positively operate said valve as the car nears the ends of its .travel.

12. The combination of an elevator-car, its counterweight, a motor for the same, an automatic stop-valve, a rope attached to the car and counterweight, a tilting arm having a slot and arranged to be moved by the said rope as the car approaches the ends of its travel, and connections between 'said arm and the automatic stop-valve as and for the purpose set fort 1.

13. The combination with a movable part of an elevator, of a motor for said elevator, an automatic stop-valve for saidinotor, a rope attached to the movable part of said elevator and running with it, a tilting arm having a slot and arranged to be moved by said rope in an increasing ratio as the car approaches the ends of its travel, and connections between said arm and the automatic stop-valve as and for the purpose set forth.

14. The combination with an elevator apparatus of a motor, an automatic stop device "for said motor, a tilting arm, a car and' counterweight, a rope connected from the car to the counterweight and running under a pulley on the tilting arm and arranged to move said tilting arm as the car or the counterweight ap preach the lower end of their travel, means for adjusting the rope, a flexible connection between the tilting arm and its support, and connections between the tilting arm and the stop device, substantially as described.

15. The combination of an elevator-ear, an automatic stop device, a rope attached to the car and to a part which is connected to the ear and runs reciprocally with it, means for preventing the point at which the said rope is attached to said part from going below a predetermined point, and connections between said rope and automatic stop device adapted to positively operate said automatic stop device as the car approaches the ends of its travel.

16. The combination with the movablepart of an elevator, of an automatic stop device, a rope attached to the movable part of the elevator and running with it, means for adjusting said rope, connections between said rope and said automatic stop device arranged to 0perate said automatic stop device as the movable part approaches the ends of its travel.

17. The combination with an elevator-car, a motor for moving the car, a controlling mechanism for the motor movable with the car, a rope attached to the car and running with it, an automatic stop device, and means for operating the automatic stop device, upon a deflection of the rope.

18. The combination with an elevator-car, a motor for moving the car, a control mechanism for the motor operated from the car, a rope connected with the car and running with it, a stop device for the car, and means for operating the stop device, said means being engaged by said rope and actuated thereby to an increasing extent as the car nears the ends of its run.

19. The combination with a movable elevator-car, of a rope connected at its ends with said car and running with the same, a leverarm operated by said rope and having its movement determined by the direction and extent of deflection of said rope as said car moves in opposite directions, and for varying the extent thereof as the car approaches each end of its travel.

20. The combination with an elevator-car, of a rope connected at its opposite ends with said car and running therewith, and means for keeping a given point on said rope which is intermediate its said ends moving in a plane parallel to the plane of movement of one of its said ends.

21. The combination with an elevator-car and stop device for said car, a rope connected and running with the elevator-car for operating said stop device, and means outside of said elevator-car for deflecting said rope whereby said stop device is automatically operated.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

K. E. OSSIAN JANSSON.

l/Vitnesses:

E. HELGE BIORKMAN, (J. A. BACON. 

